Boy of the Day - 1/28/11

Okay... I realize that it's now Saturday in most parts of the world and this country, but I happen to be in the Pacific time zone and Mickey says that I have a bit longer to slip this in. I would have had it up sooner, but I was roped into coding for about 4 hours today at work; then I was at the arena watching my baby boys destroy Calvin Pickard and the Seattle Thunderbirds 7-0. Comcast Arena is always filled to the rafters when Seattle is in town since it's just down the I-5 from Hooterville, and tonight's game was especially sweet. There were a bunch of fights, St. Calvin got pulled 4 and a half minutes into the third and there were cowbells up the yin yang. In fact my ears are still ringing and I've been home about 90 minutes.

Anyway, I digress... actually though, fighting is something that today's boy does and usually does well. Kevin Bieksa of the Vancouver Canucks is not only a really good defenseman, but he can also take care of himself. Our boy comes to us from Grimsby Ontario, which is on Lake Ontario near Niagra; and his father, Big Al who looks like a biker, works in the Ontario Federation of Labour. He is married to a lovely girl named Katie; and they have two adorable babies named Cole who is 3, and little Reese who is 1.

After playing in the Ontario Junior Hockey League, he went to Bowling Green University where he not only played all four years, but he graduated with his BA in Business and was an Academic All American twice. He was drafted by the Canucks with the 151st pick in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft; but he went back to school then signed an amateur tryout contract with the Moose in '04. After playing with the Moose for 107 games, he was finally called up by the big club and he's been there ever since. Right now, he serves as an alternate captain for away games, and there was a rumor or two that he was going to be named captain before Luongo was given the C. I am sure that with his leadership and drive, he would be a good captain someday in Vancouver.

So, without further adieu, some numminess from KevB...

Chillin' with Kes while he was rehabbing an injury...


With a Fin puppet for the Canucks Reading program...


I have never wanted to be a roll of tape more...


On the road with Keith Ballard...


I just... yeah....

Well look who finally showed up!

Good afternoon campers. In case you are new to the blog or just plum forgot, I am Amy. I am also known as the NW Chica as I am up here in the NW corner of the country. You know... the place where nothing is ever live except the Superbowl and the Oscars. ;)

So what's going on out here in Hooterville? Well, my beloved baby boys have had a very rough season; and as of last week, it got even rougher. The Tips started the season 4-0 and then for some unknown reason, they just went Sybil. Some nights they could beat the world, then others seemed like no one gave a shit and they were just killing time until the party that night. So, here we are in the last week of January with an 18-22-3-4 record, which is good for 43 points and last in the Western Conference. Add to that our second leading scorer along with one of the top 4 D-men were traded a few weeks ago as well as our head coach was out for most of the season after having to have open heart surgery. Oh, and in case that wasn't enough, our captain Landon Ferraro, aka Parm Junior and a Wang prospect, has a sports hernia and will be out until the beginning of March at the earliest. Yay! *sighs*

Anyway... I hope that the All Star Break gives everyone a good rest because my pro teams are doing pretty well, especially the boys to the north. I am pleasantly surprised but cautiously optimistic about the way that the Canucks have played this season. This is because I've been a fan for over 20 years and have seen them have delusions of grandeur then get kicked in the nards when they either implode the last two weeks of the season or get destroyed in the 1st or 2nd round. I wasn't around for the 1st Cup run in '82, but I was for '94; and this year's team has shades of that one which has me excited and guarded at the same time.

So, since this has turned out shorter than expected since I seem to have gone into brain freeze, I will leave you. However, tomorrow, I'm hoping to get started a feature that I wanted to do before, but it never really came to fruition on a regular basis. It's called Boy of the Day and this will be something that I hope to post every day. It's not only to get to know more of the lesser known employees of the National Hockey League, but to show our appreciation of the male form. I know we might have some male readers; but hey... this page is run by three women. We're gonna look at the players that play this game too. ;9 If you have some suggestions on who YOU would like to see, please leave a comment.

Have a great day everyone, and happy hockey!

Flowers for Carly

It's another Monday here on the third rock from the sun, and it was an eventful weekend for both me and my hockey boys; but for no one more than the Vancouver Canucks. They should have been able to win both games Saturday and Sunday with ease, but they were not only missing a vital part of their second line; but they had lost a member of their family.

Early Friday morning Taylor Pyatt got a phone call that not only changed his life, but a whole lot of people around him. I can only imagine what he was and still is going through.

I know how I felt when my friend called to tell me that our pal and former Silvertip Jordan Mistelbacher was dead.... I almost thought she was kidding, but she wasn't. I spent the rest of the evening sobbing and most of the next few days in a fog of sorts. He wasn't even that close of a friend, he was just an acquaintance that I had known about 2 years; but even three months later I'm still not sure I believe that he's gone and I miss him.

Carly and Taylor had been together for 11 years... they were going to be married this summer... they had their whole lives planned out no doubt, or at least until Tay retires. Now, instead of helping get that last minute stuff done for the wedding, even if it would be over the phone; Taylor had to help plan a funeral and became a widower before he was ever a husband.

I guess my point with this ramble is how much being part of a hockey family, like the I'm part of with other Tips friends and fans, means to me and how this game and the people who are involved with it change your life. It gives us that anchor when things like Carly passing away or even Mickey Renaud and Alexei Cherepanov last year happen. You hope it never happens to you, but if it does like it did with Jordan's death, you know that you aren't alone in your grief.

Anyway, I just want to send some virtual flowers to the Pyatt and Bragnalo families; as well as the Canuck boys and their families. I hope they know their extended family in the hockey world is thinking of them.

*bounce, bounce, bounce... SWISH!*

You'll have to excuse me for being not here yesterday... not only am I fighting Le Grippe, but I spent most of the day on the couch in front of the TV cursing my NCAA bracket. In fact I have the UCLA-Nova game in the background, but that's only because there's no hockey on until 1... yeah, that's it. :)

So, I'm sitting here looking at the schedule for today's games and I'm surprised there are not more afternoon games, but maybe that was because of the basketball. Just looked at the CBC webpage and the guest for After Hours is the captain of the Canucks, Roberto Luongo; and that is good. I like him a lot. Since they're in Phoenix, I was sort of hoping for a Yote, and maybe even that Yote being a candidate for the future captain, aka Peter Mueller. I miss Pete... he's a good kid; and as much as I see of him on line both on and off the ice, he's becoming a wonderful man. But then I've met his mom and dad... they're good people.

But can I tell you how proud I am to be a Canucks fan right now? Two months ago, they were in the middle of an 8 game losing streak, even more at home; and were precariously close to the bottom of the Western Conference standings. Since then, they have made some adjustments, the biggest one is that Mats Sundin has become Mats Sundin again; and they're now in 4th and may just get home ice in the playoffs if they can hold on for a few more weeks. *squees like a mofo*

My baby boys, the Silvertips, have started their playoffs against the Tri-City Americans and lost a heartbreaker in game 1 last night in Richland. It looked good in the first with a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes; but whatever happens to them when they come out for the 2nd happened again last night, as they gave up 4 goals to T-C. The Tips were able to get another goal, but the Amerks scored again; and it all seemed to be lost.

Then, with just about 3 minutes to go, Shane Harper put one in and after pulling the goalie, our 20yr old Czech Daniel Bartek was able to tie it up with 21 seconds to go. I swear that JR, the radio guy, was going to have a stroke on the air; and I was too! Oh man... I can only imagine what it must have been like in that building, not only in the stands, but in the locker room between periods 3 and 4. Well, the magic was not to continue, as one of the TC boys slipped one past Heemer for the win.

So, they'll come back out tonight, hopefully with the same fire that they ended the game with; and get a split before they come home for game 3 on Wednesday and 4 on Friday. One other good thing is my good pal Dale Hunt was back on the ice last night. He hasn't scored a whole lot; but he shoots a lot, he's fast and he brings so much grit and heart to the game.

Anyway... that is my report for this lovely first Saturday of Spring. Yay for sun! *shakes pom poms*

Patty Party!

Happy St. Patty's to everyone! I'm not Irish or Catholic, but since my baby boys' color is green, I have collected a few green clothes and that just happens to be what I pulled out of the closet this morning.

And speaking of the Tips, I'm still a little mad at them, but I had to mention some good news coming from Hewitt Avenue yesterday afternoon. My good pal Taylor Ellington, who was drafted #33 in 2007 by the Canucks, signed his entry level contract yesterday. Whoooooooooooo!

He's had such a great season and worked so hard. He doubled his point total, doled out so many hard and good hits; and he also won part of the team MVP award. I'm so proud of him... and hopefully I'll get to give him a big bear hug tonight at Sporty's as he and Graham Potuer are going to be doing the weekly radio show.



Also, I thought it would be fun to see just how many boys named Patrick there are in the NHL, and I think I found a few good ones who are not only Patrick, but Patrik and Patrice.

Patrice Bergeron of the Bruins...


Patrick Kaleta and Lalime as well as assistant coach James Patrick from the Sabres...


Patrick Eaves who plays with the Canes...


Patrick Kane and Sharp of the Blackhawks...


A good Irish boy with the Oilers, Patty O'Sullivan...


Another French Patrick, Patrice Brisebois who is back with the Habs...


A Czech Patty, Patrik Elias...


PattyMarleau, captain of the Sharkies...


Swedish sweetie Patrik Berglund...


and of course the great Patty Roy...


Have a good day and don't drink too much beer... it makes the puck go all wonky on tv. :)

Nucks, Ducks, and baby pucks...

It's pretty chilly up here in the NW corner of the country too; and yeah, I'm pretty damn sick of it too. We're not built for extremes in weather... we don't do well with temps over 80 and under 40, simply because for the most part it's not normal.

Anyway, yes I did watch the Vancouver-Anaheim game; and yes, they usually are hard for me because I love them both, though the Nucks will always come first. But if I had to watch them play each other, at least it was worth all the strife because it was a great game.

Anaheim scored the first two goals, one at the end of the first then the other in the first half of the second; then Les Canards came storming back with two within a minute of each other. Then in the third, after the Ducks got ahead again, the Canucks scored with five minutes to go; so off to OT they went and who should score the winning goal, but the captain Scottie Niedermayer. For me, this was a fine finish because not only did team #1 get a point to stay in 5th, but team #2 got two points; and now they're only a point out of 8th and 4 out of 6th.

And I really hope that the Ducks can get their collective shit together and get to the playoffs, because after not making it out of the 1st round last season as part of whatever post Cup curse seems to plague teams, they really need this. They need it not only for veterans like Scottie, Bret Hedican and Teemu; but for the younger guys like Bobby Ryan. I have fallen so much in love with Bob this season... he's got the face of an angel on the body of a football player; as well as the distinction of being the 2nd pick after Sid in the '05 draft. He didn't make the big splash that Steve did right away; but after some time back and forth from the A, he's coming into his own and is leading all rookies in goals and is only three points behind the overall rookie leader. Needless to say, I'm so very proud of him, and if he gets screwed out of a Calder nomination like PMueller did last season, I will be most displeased.

But closer to home, I've been slacking on reporting on my baby boys; or maybe it's just been that there hasn't been a lot to report about. They've lost 3 of 4 this month; and even though they have gotten a few of the wounded back, there are still a couple of boys who are still nursing injuries. Hopefully they'll be back by next weekend when they start the playoffs in TriCities. I wish I had more to say other than I can't believe that the season is almost over.

To close this entry, I want to share my boys with you... this is a video from the Everett Herald that they put together at the beginning of the season. Funny thing about it is that some of the boys aren't even with us anymore due to trades or other things, but it's still really cute. I love my boys.

Go West Young Man!

So... the Penguins and the Ducks made a trade yesterday. Ryan Whitney was sent to Anaheim in exchange for Chris Kunitz and baby Duck and OHL forward Eric Tangradi.

As a fan of both teams and someone who has seen lots of Duck games, I think this is a good deal for both teams. Neither one was a salary dump, neither one is a sign that their GM is giving up and no one had to give up a draft pick.

Kunitz is a player that should have no problems playing on Bing's wing, giving him a body guard, and he can help clear space for others or go to the net himself. He's also not afraid to go toe to toe with someone as well as doing his own hitting and dirty work in the corners which they sorely need.

Reading the Pens site, Chris is happy about the trade and wants to help the team with working their way back into the top 8 so they can make the playoffs.

Our friend Whit should fit in well with Les Canards especially with two of the very best on D with Scottie and Pronger. We've seen that Ryan has the talent, I think he just needs someone to help support him in getting back in the program. I mean, as much as I love Brooksie, not having Sarge in the lineup for most of the season hurt them both without a lot of veteran presence on the blueline.

Ryan too sees this as a positive thing, or that is what he's telling the press; but I think it really is good for him. Scott Niedermayer is one of the very best at what he does and if he pays attention, Whit should come back to his old form.

And up here in the NW division, I just got an update from the Canucks that they have claimed Ossi Vaananen off waivers from the Flyers. Hopefully he didn't pick up too many puppy drowning tricks.But it will be good to have a little more backup on the D, except that there are a couple of really good ones down in Manitoba that should be given a chance like our good pal Shaun Heshka. I think if Hesh got called up, I would be so happy; but maybe they wanted to give Sami Salo a Finn teammate since there's so many Swedes. lol

Anyway, that's about it here in the upper left corner of the country. Have a great weekend!

Random drug induced rambling

Good morning from the Left Coast... well, it's morning anyway and I'm buried under my desk in my cube sucking down OJ and popping Dayquil. :) And Lisa said pretty much what I would have if I were up that early; so insteat I want to give a big ole shoutout to my main men aka the Vancouver Canucks.

I have been a fan of the Canucks ever since I can remember, mostly because of locale as Vancouver is about a 2 hour car ride from here. They weren't that great since when if they did qualify for the playoffs they were promptly ousted by one or the other teams from Alberta; but I loved Steamer and Harold Snepts and even Tiger Williams. Then in the 1988 draft, they had the 2nd pick and they chose a tall skinny kid from Medicine Hat, Alberta; and I was hooked line and sinker.

When the 1988-1989 season started, I watched as many games as they showed in the days before Center Ice and all the cable channels, which weren't that many, even with the start of the double header of HNIC starting that season; but still I believed and finally in 1994 it seemed that the dream of that shiny cup was going to come true. Well, even with a super human effort by the Captain and Pasha Bure and Captain Kirk; it just wasn't in the cards for my boys. I didn't know it at the time, but two men on the other side of the Cup celebration would be responsible for so much unhappiness for me and other Canuck fans a few years later.

You know those days you will always remember no matter how long ago.... you know where you were and how you felt, etc. Well, February 6, 1998 and November 10, 2001 will always be those days since they were the days that Trevor got traded away then traded back. Those almost 4 years without Trevor were so hard for me to be a fan... I was angry at the front office, I elevated my intense dislike for Messier and Keenan to an all out hate; and if it wasn't for Markus Naslund and Todd Bertuzzi showing the signs of the beginnings of the West Coast Express, I would have had to cut a bitch.

But to make a long story even longer, through good times and bad, I have never not loved this team. There have been many times where I have not liked them and felt they needed a kick in the nards; but they will always be my boys and last night was one of those games where I was so proud of them. They were on the road and down late in the 3rd period to a division rival who also needed those two points; and they manned up and got it to OT then won it in the shootout. I guess I was just a little pleasant surprise after the long long slump they were in last month; and I admit that I was on the "Why did we sign Sundin?" list for a while. Obviously, I was very uniformed on how good he could be; but then I could give a rat's ass about the Leafs so I sort of have ignored him forever.

I'm not sure if there was a point to this post other than say to my beloved Canucks that I love you guys and good luck on your road trip this weekend!

Greetings from the West!

It's sort of fun to be 3 hours behind Lisa because then I get to see what she has to say and either refute it or say "Rock on!"

The Pens start their new era this morning; and I'm going to have to follow the game via scoreboard since I'm part of the private sector and not able to watch it on TV. I don't know if Bylsma is going to get any better results than HCMT, but hey, it's worth a shot right? Besides, he's kind of hot and he used to be a Duck.

Speaking of Les Canards, what in the fuck was going on with Jiggy last night? I realize that Ilya is a great player, but Jesus....it's the Thrashers! Even with Teemu and some noob getting 3 points each it wasn't enough. I'm worried that if Jiggy doesn't get his shit together or whoever the hell is the GM today doesn't get another goalie, I don't see them getting out of the first round.

Some boys that may just get to round 2 are the Canucks. They've been on fire of late and had a great game against a Habs team that has been having just the opposite luck. The Sundin-Kesler-Demitra line has been crazy sauce, and they, along with the Sedin-Sedin-Burrows line might just be the answer for what ailed them during that horrific slump. They just need to keep this up since Mr. Playoffs aka my hockey husband will not be there for game 7 heroics this season.

I will hopefully get some news from the Major junior leagues tomorrow, especially my boys the Everett Silvertips.

And with the games that Misters Kovalchuk and Ovechkin had last night along with Malkin and some of their comrades, how fucking scary is Team Russia going to be next year in Vancouver??? Yikes!

Oh, and thank you NHL for scheduling a late game on a Monday... it may not be that big of a deal for anyone east of the Rockies, but for someone who doesn't watch a lot of network TV and basketball is on their All Star break, we need something to watch after 8pm! Even then, Mondays are usually crappy. I just don't get it. Why is it that some nights are 10 games and some are two; and then, of those 10, there are 3 that I want to watch and they're inevitably on Wednesday which is always a Tips game night. Bah!

I'm sure I had more to say, but the cold meds are making me all fuzzy. *grins*

Have a good day off if you are fortunate enough to have it off; and a good Monday to the rest of ya.